Play

Disable your screen reader before downloading. Playback starts immediately after pressing enter. Use space bar to pause or play, and up and down arrows to control volume. Use left arrow to rewind and right arrow to fast forward.

Vic police raid bikie properties

In Victoria, 700 police are involved in raids of outlaw motorcycle gangs across the state this morning. From first light they've been carrying out 60 warrants on bikie clubhouses and other properties.

Transcript

icon-plusicon-minus

TIM PALMER: In Victoria, 700 police have taken part in raids on outlaw motorcycle gangs across the state this morning. From first light they've been carrying out 60 warrants on bikie clubhouses and other properties.

The ABC's Jacqui Peake is in Fairfield in Melbourne's inner-east and joins me now.

Jacqui, what have you seen happening this morning?

JACQUI PEAKE: So Tim, as soon as we arrived this morning it was quite evident what had happened. Police have stormed the barriers or the gates really out the front of the Hells Angels clubhouse here on Heidelberg Road. It's a fairly major arterial road in Fairfield.

And they've arrested one man who they say was the only person inside the house at the time. He is a 46 year old man.

This is part of a huge operation across Victoria so as you've said, 60 raids across the state, 700 police involved, 40 just here at this rate. And even in this area which is called the, it's called the north-west police area but it does include this eastern section, 40 police all up here but 21 raids just in this region alone.

Police say it's not just clubhouses they're raiding. They're also raiding other properties that are believed to be connected with outlaw motorcycle gang activity. And they do expect many more arrests to come out of these raids.

TIM PALMER: What's the motivation for the raids?

JACQUI PEAKE: Police are staying fairly tight-lipped on this at this stage. It does come and initially all of us here in the media thought are going to put two and two together, new anti-fortress laws had come into place on Sunday which do allow police to tear down barriers and booby traps and cameras outside these clubhouses.

But police actually say that exiting search warrant powers allowed them to do this here in Fairfield today but also these other raids where if they have a search warrant on information they have, they are allowed to storm a premises in order to get inside and make some arrests.

TIM PALMER: So did they have to knock down any fortifications? What were the premises like?

JACQUI PEAKE: For the premises here, as I speak a gate, a large metal gate with Hells Angels logos on it, is strewn across the road. They've also knocked down part of a fence as part of this.

The power company actually came out before. I think there was some camera systems or gate opening security systems that have been damaged in this. I think the power company was just sussing out whether any permanent, any damage has been done that could be dangerous.

But it is quite a scene here and I'm sure across the state it will be quite a scene among all of these properties.

TIM PALMER: The ABC's Jacqui Peake speaking live from Fairfield in Melbourne's east.